"Damn, these guests are way too rough!" Joo I-dam shrieked as he rolled under the desk. A nerve gas capsule whizzed over his head, striking the wall and spewing smoke. The hideout was instantly filled with the intruders' shouts, the sound of equipment being destroyed, and acrid smoke.
Jin Do-yoon instinctively ducked low and swept the legs of the nearest intruder. But his opponent was no ordinary thug. The fallen intruder used the momentum to spring back up, swinging a powerful shock baton toward Do-yoon's abdomen.
"Ugh...!" Breathless with pain, Do-yoon was thrown backward. The 'flame insignia' carved clearly on the intruders' forearms burned into his mind. It was completely different from the MainNet official security team's symbol—a far more threatening and ominous mark.
"This way, Jin Do-yoon!" Joo I-dam shouted urgently, opening an emergency hatch hidden in the wall. His makeshift EMP bomb exploded with a small blast, momentarily paralyzing the intruders' electronic equipment. "I was saving this for a rainy day, never thought I'd have to use it like this!"
The two men dove into the narrow emergency passage. Behind them, the intruders' shouts and pursuing footsteps rapidly approached. The passage connected to the city's old sewer system. The stench stung their nostrils, but now wasn't the time to worry about such things.
"These guys aren't ordinary. Their equipment too... they're like a professional assassination squad." I-dam panted as they ran through the darkness. Red blood was seeping from his side—a wound from shrapnel during their escape. Do-yoon also had bruises on his shoulder, but adrenaline surged through him, leaving no time to feel pain.
How long had they been running? When they could no longer hear pursuit, the two men stopped under an old manhole to catch their breath. I-dam quickly bandaged his wound while Do-yoon checked if No Min-soo's data chip was safe. Fortunately, the chip was intact, but they had lost most of I-dam's hacking equipment and many files hidden in the hideout.
"In the end... we have to go to the 'Memory Graveyard.'" Do-yoon spoke in a low voice. His eyes held determination stronger than fear. "If they're going this far to stop us, it means all the secrets are there."
I-dam chuckled bitterly. "I must be crazy, getting mixed up with an idealistic dreamer like you and suffering like this. But... we've come too far to back out now. Fine, let's go. I need to see with my own eyes just how remarkable this damn 'graveyard' really is."
To evade pursuit, the two couldn't use public transportation. They waited for sunset, then began walking toward the abandoned underground bunker along the deserted city outskirts. Do-yoon's mind was flooded with memories from the past—his lover Ha-yoon's smile, and his younger sister So-ra's hollow gaze after she was suddenly forgotten by the world. He was beginning to realize this fight wasn't just for the disappeared people. It was a battle to preserve memory itself, the very meaning of existence.
As night deepened, the two finally arrived at the underground bunker entrance marked on their map. Contrary to expectations, there were no tight security measures or cutting-edge security systems visible. Only a rusty, old iron door stood firmly closed, and the surroundings felt eerily devoid of any signs of life. An unsettling silence hung in the air, as if time itself had stopped.
I-dam pulled out a portable scanner to scan around the iron door. "This is strange... I'm not picking up any electromagnetic signals at all. It's like... we're inside a giant Faraday cage. There's a good chance MainNet's surveillance network doesn't reach this far."
At that moment, Do-yoon unconsciously stepped back. He could sense an ominous 'echo' flowing from the bunker entrance—faint but enough to set every nerve on edge. It wasn't simply the afterglow of emotion. It was a massive knot of agony, as if countless beings were tangled together in screams.
"This place... might be much deeper and darker than we thought." Do-yoon's voice trembled slightly. Before his eyes seemed to stretch a massive maw leading to the river of oblivion.
I-dam stared at the tightly sealed iron door and muttered quietly, "Well then... shall we uninvited guests make our entrance?"
He pulled out a universal bypass tool he'd made himself from his bag. The door to the 'Memory Graveyard' was finally about to open before them.